SKYLOTEC DEUS 7300 Instructions D'utilisation page 14

If any imperfections are found, the rope should be
taken out of service. Also, if a rope has been subject
to shock load, fall arrest, or used in an emergency
rescue situation, the rope should be retired from
service.
All ropes can be cut, and ropes are especially
susceptible to cutting when under load and bent
over sharp or abrasive objects. Avoid bending
ropes over sharp edges or objects, and use edge-
protection.
Dirty ropes can be cut by the dirt in the rope,
especially when the rope is under tension. Keep
your rope clean. Avoid letting ropes touch the
ground, avoid stepping on ropes, avoid dragging
ropes, and avoid contaminating ropes.
In long descents where the free end of the rope is
hanging and unsupported, the weight of the free end
of the rope acts as a brake that can slow or stop
descent. This happens with all descent devices. To
moderate this effect, you may have to physically
lift the free end of the rope to initiate and maintain
descent.
All ropes experience a condition called "sheath
slippage." Too little sheath slippage makes a rope
extremely stiff and unusable. Too much sheath
slippage allows the sheath to bunch up and jam in
the controlled descent device. Sheath slippage is
exacerbated when the rope is subjected to sudden
stops inside the controlled descent device. To
prevent jams caused by sheath slippage in your
DEUS 7300 Series controlled descent device,
avoid using the control dial for sudden stops.
Instead, if you anticipate stopping midway during
descent, use the manual tailing brake to control
descent and to stop descent. Once stopped, turn
the control dial to the "stop" position to maintain
vertical position hands free. To re-initiate descent
after stopping, apply the manual tailing brake
before turning the control dial to the "go" position.
Ropes become stiffer and harder to work with the
more they are used. This happens because the
fiber-twist and braid-angle put into a rope to make
it easy to work with are gradually straightened
out as a rope is used. Stiff rope will affect
performance of a DEUS 7300 Series controlled
descent device by making it harder to pull rope
through the device and making descents slower.
When a rope becomes stiff and difficult to use,
replace it.
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Rope will experience wear when used in a
DEUS 7300 Series controlled descent device.
Surface fibers in the mantle (outside sheath) will fray
and individual surface fibers in the mantle will melt
and become hard under high load and high heat.
When a rope looks and feels heavily used, replace
it. Knots tied in rope, webbing and slings can
dramatically reduce strength and cause premature
wear. Any kind of end-termination on a rope – knots,
sewn eyes, swagged fittings, spliced eyes – reduces
strength. In general, the strength reduction due to an
end-termination is a function of the compression in
the rope and the sharpness of the bend in the rope.
It is not uncommon for strength to be reduced by
50% due to the end-termination.
Rope, sewn slings, lanyards, energy absorbers and
harnesses are vulnerable to wear. Frequent contact
with dirty, abrasive and sharp surfaces, particularly
at connection points to anchors and other hardware,
accelerates rope wear.
Wet, cold, frozen and hot conditions
Wet or frozen rope, in general, creates more
friction than dry rope. Therefore, wet or frozen
rope will usually cause descent to be considerably
slower than dry rope. While DEUS 7300 Series
controlled descent devices are designed to
operate safely in wet, cold, frozen and hot
conditions, performance under these conditions
can vary from performance experienced during
training under normal dry conditions. For this
reason, we encourage users to occasionally
include these adverse conditions as part of your
normal training routine.
Hot conditions, and especially when the descent
device has been laying in the sun, cause descents
to begin with the descent device at an elevated
temperature. An elevated starting temperature
means the heat generated during descent will
cause the descent device to get hotter quicker.
See the following section about "Heat".
Heat. Heat is a natural consequence of controlled
descent. The potential energy stored in a body at
height is converted to heat as it descends. The
total amount of heat generated during a descent
is determined by the load (kg/lbs) and the descent
distance (height). Descent speed affects the rate
of heat generated, but not the total amount of heat
generated.